Nordic defence chiefs call for seamless military border crossings

The five Nordic chiefs of defence spoke together in an episode of the Forsvarspodden podcast, hosted by the Norwegian Defence. A unique episode of the podcast, according to Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces Michael Claesson, they outlined their priorities for continued Nordic defence cooperation.

"Seamless border crossing," said General Michael Claesson, Sweden's Chief of Defence, when asked what he would improve. "Now it's not seamless." He said the obstacles were legislation and "inert and stiff regulations."

Norway's Chief of Defence, General Eirik Kristoffersen, agreed. He said a Finnish company should be able to train at Norway's Halkavarre range "without a lot of bureaucratic hinders."

In 2022, the chiefs advised their governments to integrate their forces rather than specialise. They also advised placing all five countries in the same joint operations area. According to the chiefs, that happened in December 2025, when Denmark, Finland and Sweden came under Joint Force Command Norfolk, as previously reported by NDS.

Finland's Chief of Defence, General Janne Jaakkola, said NATO gives Finland "the depth of the defence and also those capabilities which we never could procure ourselves." He said Russia plans to roughly triple its forces near Finland's border, to 80,000–100,000 troops. "The Russians are adapting and scaling," he said.

Kristoffersen said Russian hybrid activity aims to weaken public support for Ukraine. "It's not a military answer to all of that. It's how we as a society react to it."

Claesson warned against Nordic complacency. "Cohesion is a centre of gravity," he said.

Iceland has no standing armed forces. Jónas G. Allansson, Iceland's Director General of Defence, said NATO membership is "crucial." He called it one of the two pillars of Iceland's security. The other is its bilateral defence agreement with the US.

Denmark's Chief of Defence, General Michael Hyldgaard, said using Iceland as a base for operations around Greenland "is crucial." He said he gets his motivation from the view of Copenhagen outside his office window. "I see people go around there with no worries. I want to keep it that way."